Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

I’d like to start this journal entry with a shout out to my number two son - Brandon! Today marks 25 years since Brandon made his appearance in this world, and quickly found his way into my heart. Brandon will always be my “baby” no matter how many years pass by.

The other day, I was checking out his MySpace and saw that he had updated his photo albums with photos from when he was just a little kid. I wasn’t too surprised when my eyes filled up with tears as I looked at those photos. How has time passed so quickly? I began to reminisce about those early days, when Brandon was only 2 or 3 years old.

I remember going into his room to wake him in the morning for breakfast. He always woke up in a good mood, and I’d sit on the end of his bed and say “Wake up, BooBooLa” softly. (I still call him BooBooLa) He’d stand up on his bed, and put his arms around my neck, while wrapping his little legs around my waist.  I’d carry him to the kitchen, while he snuggled his soft face into my neck. Gosh, I miss those days! When I told Brandon that I remembered carrying him from his bedroom, he jokingly told me that I could do that the next time I came for a visit, but that he’s sure it would be a lot more difficult. Silly boy.

Now Brandon is a man, married to a beautiful woman, “father” to a boxer named Pandora (but I hope that someday they’ll give me a grandchild that has only two legs!), a full time college student (and getting all A’s!), and a loving and caring soul.  I love him with all my heart and soul and wish him nothing but sunshine and rainbows.  Happy Birthday my BooBooLa!

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On Sunday, Steve and I met Gip and Carmen for brunch at Pikes Landing. As always, it was delicious and quite filling. We went hungry - to take advantage of all the fabulous food, and made sure to leave some room for the awesome dessert table. The champagne flowed freely, conversation was interesting (they just returned from a cruise which took them to Iceland and Greenland), and by the time we left I was feeling very guilty for stuffing myself so full. I couldn’t wait to get home and out of my jeans and into lounging pants!

I asked Steve to take me driving around town, as I wanted to take some photographs of the winter landscape. The snow hasn’t melted, although I was holding out hope that it would. It seems winter truly is here and the snow isn’t going anywhere.  I suppose I should get used to this, as it will be here for the next 6 months. Now I’m holding out hope that the below zero temps don’t come for a while. *fingers crossed*

This is the sign for the ice bridge next to Pike’s. After the river freezes, vehicles can cross here. Unfortunately, there is always one or two vehicles that try to cross before the ice is sufficiently thick.

This is the Tanana Chief Sternwheeler (background). The Tanana Chief is a replica of the old riverboats that plied the waterways of Alaska’s Interior in the years between 1865 and 1955. The original Tanana Chief was built in Unalaska in 1898 and served as a passenger and trade boat, becoming the first sternwheeler to navigate the Tanana and Chena Rivers in 1898.

Next, we drove to Pioneer Park, and then drove through the park to the river - where the mallard ducks hang out. The ducks here have been wintering over in Fairbanks for the past several years.  At first there was some worry that they wouldn’t have anything to eat, but since mallards like plankton and grasses, they do just fine. Upriver from this particular portion of the Chena is a power plant. It discharges hot water into the river, which keeps the water from freezing and allows plant life to survive the cold

In addition, there are quite a few local folks who routinely take cracked corn or barley to that area, and the ducks love it.  The jury is out on whether this is good practice or not. Some people don’t think it’s a good idea, as it keeps the ducks from migrating, and habituates them to humans, whereas others believe it’s no different than putting out seed for the chickadees.  I rather like having them around - for selfish reasons. They’re an entertaining diversion on an otherwise drab winter day.

When we arrived at Pioneer Park, Steve drove up to the locked gate, and I got out and walked through the small opening to where the ducks were sitting. When they saw me, they all got to their feet and waddled toward me. Obviously they thought I had something good for them. Unfortunately my pockets were empty, but having an entire sord of ducks coming at me made for some cute photos.

Here are some additional duck photos. Click to enlarge:

	“From troubles of the world I turn to ducks, Beautiful comical things” From Ducks by F W Harvey

When I got back in the truck after the “duck shoot”, Steve was smiling at me. He told me he got a real kick out of watching the ducks coming at me so quickly, and then just as quickly, divert to the river when they discovered I had no treats for them.  Fickle birds!

We drove out on South Cushman towards the rifle range to see if anything else would catch my eye.  We saw a set of moose tracks, but they went into a thick stand of bushes and disappeared from view. Several of the sloughs and water-filled gravel pits we passed already had ice forming.  The bare bushes alongside these bodies of water were decorated with ice crystals. The hoarfrost was quite beautiful - resembling dainty thorns.

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And now onto the next topic for this journal entry - a winter getaway! Steve received an email a week or so ago, from Alaska Airlines, offering him a $50 companion fare with the purchase of any roundtrip ticket. It just so happens that the airlines has been running PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend) specials this month on select flights too. We talked about finally realizing our dream of visiting Hawaii, and when I saw that we could both fly roundtrip (and non stop from Anchorage!) for less than $750, we knew we couldn’t let it get away.  At the end of January, we’ll be leaving Fairbanks at 9:30am, and will be touching down in Honolulu before 7pm. (The flight from ANC to HNL is about 6 hours.)

We plan to spend two nights on Oahu, and will spend the one full day we have on the island visiting Pearl Harbor. The next day, after breakfast, we will fly from Oahu to Kauai - where we will spend the bulk of our vacation.

We researched all of the islands, and while they all offer spectacular scenery and a lot to see and do, we decided that Kauai is the best fit for us. From the website:  “Kauai is aptly nicknamed the Garden Isle, and is the Hawaiian vacation destination treasured for its lush tropical greenery and sparkling sand beaches. Visitors to the island worship not only its postcard-perfect beauty, but Kauai’s diversity of cultures, activities, shopping and dining.”

Steve and I are not “lay on the beach all day” people, although we do love a pretty beach to take walks on and listen to the waves splashing on the shore.  When planning this trip, we mutually decided that we wanted to go to a place where we could relax, hike, explore by vehicle, and just soak in the warmth.  Since it is usually well below zero in January/February here in Alaska, I’m sure we’ll appreciate the 100+ degree temperature change.

When looking for lodging on Kauai, I used the trusty TripAdvisor website.  (I’m a member of TripAdvisor, and love to share information about Alaska with people planning to come for a visit) I went in search of reviews for various hotels, resorts, B&Bs and other inns.  I wanted to keep our travel budget within reason, as well as find more of a romantic, laid-back, place to stay.  I found the Kauai Banyan Inn under the B&B listings and after reading the glowing reviews, I decided to give Lorna (owner) a call. We talked for almost 30 minutes! Before hanging up, I booked the Koa suite for our stay.

The Kauai Banyan Inn is located 5 minutes from the beach and shopping, and far enough from the main highway to be more quiet. It’s also centrally located on the island, so that we can drive as far as the road will take us to the west side in less than 2 hours. Likewise, a drive to the end of the road on the north shore would take less than 2 hours. Of course, with a photographer in the car, we’ll probably need to tack on another few hours.

We plan to go hiking, take a flight-seeing tour, perhaps do some whale watching, attend a luau (I want photos of dancers), visit Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) - and Steve wants to zipline. I think it would be neat to see the countryside from high in the trees, but my fear of heights is paralyzing, so that won’t be on my list of things to do. You can bet we’ll cram as much as we can into the time we’re there.

We’re both very excited about this trip, and even moreso because it will break up the winter with a nice warm retreat. By the time we get back, we’ll only have a couple more months until spring breakup.

If we have a good time (and I’m sure we will), we may just make this an annual winter pilgrimage, and explore a different island each time.

As I end this jounal entry, a glance at the outside thermometer shows 26F, and I think it’s snowing lightly. I’m heading up to bed to dream warm dreams about oceans and beaches and rain forests and humidity.